Part 2: Actual Physical Work Commences.
October 9, 2012
I have mostly spent the last few weeks spending money.
There are lots of parts that are needed for this project and the first step is to acquire them. I ordered stereo equipment, air conditioning parts, seat cushions, speaker grills, a thermister, and a variety of other odds and ends.
In the meantime, I have started on disassembly of the interior. Pretty mundane stuff, but it has to be done.
Mark Corbin had a good suggestion for front speakers. The factory stereo speaker grills that were used on the few Corvairs that were equipped with stereo speakers are reproduced for Camaros and available through Classic Industries. Here's a link to the grills, which are part no. HC27.
They come unpainted, so the first step was to paint them. Here is one drying after being primed and painted semi-gloss black.
I ordered a pair of Polk db401 4x6 plate speakers for the doors. They fit nicely inside the grills, but have a somewhat smaller radius at the corners, so the grills didn't fit over them. A few minutes with the bench grinder fixed that:
Here you can see that the speakers fit the grills perfectly, right down to the screw holes:
I think these will look very unobtrusive and stock, and will sound great.
No pictures to show it but I also picked up a sweet Kicker sub that will fit (just) under the passenger seat and a pair of Polk MM691 6x9 speakers for the parcel shelf. These are nice speakers; they come with an external crossover and appear to be very well-built. I also bought some 1/2" MDF from which to construct the parcel shelf. That's going to be a challenging task but I think it will work out fine.
Tonight I disassembled the seats so that I can have them recovered in leather. As has been my tradition for some time, I used the decklid of the '63 Olds 98 as my workbench. Once the 98 is restored I won't be able to do this any more, which is why I have to finish the barn before I can restore the Olds. So I can have a table. Right. Anyway, here's a picture:
And here is a picture of the seats all packed in the back of the Suburban, ready to go to the upholstery shop.
I am going to drop all of the metal trim parts and hinges for the rear seat back off at the powdercoater on Friday when I am in Grand Rapids.
Here's another interesting development. I would like to convert the car to power windows. If I add A/C, power windows are nice because you can switch between fresh air and A/C while underway. But if I add power windows, I would like to have GM style power window switches where the window cranks are, to keep that factory look, even if it's not factory. I contacted Electric Life, a manufacturer of replacement power window systems, because they produce and sell a reproduction complete power window kit for 1967 Camaros. It's not cheap--the kit runs around $800--but it is a bolt-in solution and the regulators are very similar in appearance to those found in late Corvairs. I talked to one of their staff and he indicated that he had recently had an inquiry from another Corvair owner. He already had a set of Corvair regulators and they appeared to be very close. So I would encourage interested Corvair owners to contact Electric Life and express their interest in having these adapted to Corvairs.
So I think that is that, at least for now. Later this week I hope to pull the radio and ship it for conversion to modern electronics.
